"Dave" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 09 May 2006 00:22:50 GMT, "Maxprop" said:

Might or might not, depending on what goes into that "uncompensated
care"
number in addition to Max's "expense of hospital and medical care for
the
uninsured, impoverished masses."

It would seem the term "uncompensated care" is rather self-explanatory.

Not at all. All it tells you is that they claim to have provided a service
and didn't get paid. It says nothing about the reasons they didn't get
paid. Reasons might include, among other things, those who refuse to pay
deductibles based on a dispute with the provider,

Possible, yes, but generally most individuals with means do not risk having
their credit trashed over such disputes. Further, such cases, if they end
up in court, are preponderantly decided in favor of the provider. Patients
sign contracts for services *prior* to receiving them, and such contracts
are considered binding, at least here in Indiana. My guess is that such
co-payment defaults involve those with little or no means to pay = the
impoverished or working poor. Uncollectable Medicaid co-payment claims at
my wife's hospital are currently in the 90th percentile.

amounts un collectible
because of poor collection practices, generally sloppy billing practices
in
dealing with third party providers, and a number of other things.

Hospitals are notorious for being astute with their billing practices, both
with patients and with third-parties. Once again this could possibly be a
percentage of "uncompensated care," but I doubt if it's larger than a single
digit percentagewise.

I stand by my initial contention that the greatest percentage of
"uncompensated care" consists of indigents who cannot pay. This is for two
reasons: 1) they generally have no means to pay, obviously, and 2) this
general classification of people have, as a rule, poor health habits and
some downright dangerous ones, such as drug use, smoking, obesity, and
neglect of minor health problems before they become major ones. These folks
end up in the hospital at a substantially greater rate than the rest of the
non-geriatric general population. And as the undocumented alien population
proliferates this group constitutes an ever-increasing part of the
uncompensated care column.

My suppositions are based upon experience and data, not darts thrown
blindfolded.

Max